


Singer's Books

by purple_charlie



Series: Singer's Books [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Bi Dean, Bookseller AU, Gen, M/M, Queer Reader, Reader Insert, bisexual reader, everyone is hot and reader is very queer, gay cas, reader is y/n
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:33:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27952376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purple_charlie/pseuds/purple_charlie
Summary: “Alright, welcome to Tuesday.” Rufus starts off, glancing down at a clipboard. “Good news first, we’ve got fresh meat, Y/N and Kevin. This is their training week, so I’m assigning each of them to one of you hardened veterans today. You both have 10 seconds to tell us about yourself and your favorite book, go.”~~~~The official beginning of The Booksellers AU, or, Singer's Books.
Relationships: Eventual Sam Winchester/Reader, background Castiel/Dean Winchester, got some ground to cover first
Series: Singer's Books [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2028913
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Singer's Books

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the official beginning of the Singer's Books AU! I intended it to be a reader insert, but some pieces are coming easier than others, hence that Destiel piece being published first.  
> All of this is thanks to the fact that I work at a book store and the Winchesters live in my head right now, so I keep imagining them in my workplace.

“Morning meeting, everybody, morning meeting.” Rufus’ voice crackles out through the ancient intercom system. 

The break room couch creaks under me as I stand, fussing with my ponytail. It’s my first day at Singer’s Books, a surprisingly large bookstore in downtown Sioux Falls. I’ve only officially met Rufus and Charlie, the two managers who interviewed me, and today is my first day meeting the rest of the staff.

“We all here?” Rufus asks as I walk into the open area in the middle of the store. I stand a bit behind the main group, still feeling a bit shy, but Charlie gives me a little wave from across the circle of book sellers. Heat floods my cheeks and I wave back quickly, hoping she didn’t notice me blush.

“Alright, welcome to Tuesday.” Rufus starts off, glancing down at a clipboard. “Good news first, we’ve got fresh meat, Y/N and Kevin. This is their training week, so I’m assigning each of them to one of you hardened veterans today. You both have 10 seconds to tell us about yourself and your favorite book, go.”

“Ten seconds each or ten total?” A broad man with spiky brown hair and a dangerous smirk asks. Another large man in a black cap jabs an elbow into his side as Rufus sighs, glancing at the ceiling with his eyes closed.

“Ten each, now start talking, we got work to do.” Rufus gestures with the clipboard at a short Asian guy with dark, shaggy hair on the opposite side of the circle. “You go first, Tran.”

“Uh, hi, I’m Kevin.” He starts, holding up a hand. “I like burritos and video games and my favorite book is _Sapiens_ . Oh, and _To Kill a Mockingbird._ ”

“Good choices. Next?” Rufus swivels his head to look over at me, and I suddenly feel like there’s a spotlight shining on my face.

“G’morning, I’m Y/N. I just moved to Sioux Falls. I like queer science fiction and biographies of cool women, and burritos and video games too.” 

Kevin grins at me as Rufus starts listing off the tasks of the day, assigning me to work with Charlie before ushering us all away with a wave of the clipboard. Charlie bounces over to me, knocking her shoulder against mine.

“Hey Y/N! Today is going to be a bit of an info dump, so make sure you’ve got something to take notes with, and don’t be afraid to ask me a million questions.”

I nod, reaching into the back pocket of my jeans and flapping my little notebook at Charlie. She gives me a thumbs up and steers us to the front of the store. 

We go over opening procedures, what to do with day old papers, and she shows me how to work the register. The whole gig feels very close to any other retail job, but I get the added bonus of throwing my favorite books at people and working with cute redheads. 

After a couple hours of ringing people up with Charlie over my shoulder to guide me, the security gate at the front door beeps, startling both me and the older couple walking past. 

“It’s ok!” Charlie shouts towards the back of the store, throwing a Retail Smile at the older couple. “Looks like you got too close to the security gate there, is there something we can hold back here for you?” 

The couple thanks Charlie and gives us a stack of hardbacks to hold onto while they shop, and as soon as they’re gone, Charlie turns to me, Retail Face gone.

“Now, if that was a real shoplifting sitch, don’t feel like you have to deal with it alone, call for a manager, and if anyone gets aggressive, feel free to call Dean or Benny from receiving in the back.”

“Who’s that again?”

Charlie bops herself in the forehead, chuckling.

“Sorry, I forget people don’t come preloaded with everyone’s names. Dean was the one who made the dumb joke about ‘ten seconds each or ten seconds total’ at the meeting this morning. Benny was the burly guy next to him.”

I nod, trying to dig through all the training of the day to remember the morning meeting. It feels like it was days ago, but the store has only been open for a couple hours.

“They’re both pretty burly.”

Charlie snorts, her nose scrunching prettily. Even with the hilarious amount of information I need to retain, spending time with Charlie has been pretty great. 

“No lie there. But don’t let their size intimidate you, they’re both big teddy bears.”

By lunch time, my brain is swirling with how to void transactions, magazine prices, and what to do if you suspect a bill is counterfeit. Charlie has also been telling me hilarious stories about her time at Singer’s, and I’ve been laughing more with her in the past few hours than I have in the six weeks since I moved to Sioux Falls. 

“So this guy is just babbling about how Trump’s son is the Anti Christ, and somehow John Lennon is involved, and without breaking eye contact or looking down, I grab a piece of paper, write HELP on it in big letters, and slide it down the counter to Sam, who has somehow not noticed the avalanche of crazy.” Charlie laughs as we head back to the break room for lunch. “Sam, to his credit, takes it all in stride, and makes up some bullshit about needing to train me, and the dude just kind of nods at us and wanders back out the door!”

We’re laughing as we push through the doors to the receiving area, where the boxes of books and trinkets come in to be added to inventory. The guy I now know is Dean looks up and grins at us, showing off eyes that are an unreal shade of green. It makes me wonder if being hot is a prerequisite to working here.

“Hey, Y/N, right? I’m Dean.” He holds out a big hand and gives me a wink as we shake. “I run the show back here in receiving, keep these bozos in line. That’s Benny, and that’s Ash, and over there in her little witch cave is Rowena, she handles all the sidelines shit, anything that’s not a book.”

The other big guy from the morning meeting, Benny, waves with a paperback, and Ash, who I hadn’t seen yet, gives me a “Sup” from behind his computer. A door behind Ash opens, and _another_ gorgeous redhead comes out, arms full of notebooks. Her curly red hair bounces hypnotically with every step as she sidles up to Dean, squinting at him. 

“Dean, dearie, I didn’t just hear you call my domain a witch cave, now did I?” She asks in an intoxicating lilt, raising one manicured eyebrow. Charlie snorts next to me, and Dean throws another dazzling smile at Rowena. He could probably get anything with that smile.

“No ma’am, just introducing Y/N to the boys here. It’s her first day.”

Rowena turns big green eyes at me, sparkling with purple eyeshadow, and smiles slowly, sending another wave of heat over my cheeks. 

“Nice to meet you, Y/N.” She dips her head at me, and a weird urge to curtsy flashes through my head. “Rowena MacLeod. I run the ‘sidelines shit,’ as darling Dean so delicately put it.”

“Nice to meet you all.” I mumble, fighting the urge to edge closer to Charlie, the one I’ve spent most of the day with. Rowena smiles at me again before swishing away, leaving a trail of flowery perfume. I almost feel stunned.

“You two off to lunch?” Dean asks, snapping me out of staring at the place Rowena had just been. Charlie nods without looking up, sifting through a pile of hardbacks on Dean’s desk. 

“I was gonna show Y/N Fancy Gas, wanna come?” 

“Yeah, I’m at a good stopping point.” 

Charlie and I grab our coats and hats from the break room, meeting back up with Dean at the front of the store. He’s in a leather jacket and black beanie, tapping on his phone and looking like something out of a fashion magazine. 

Dean and Charlie chatter as we walk through the chilly February afternoon, asking me questions about my move to Sioux Falls, what I’ve been reading lately, which TV Shows I like.

“I didn’t know there _was_ a Star Wars holiday special.” I say as we wait for a crosswalk. “I feel like I would have seen something about that on the internet.” 

Charlie grins, and Dean nods from behind her.

“We watch it every year.” He explains as the light changes. “Bea Arthur plays a singing bartender in the Mos Eisley Cantina, there’s an _anime_ segment that is truly nightmare inducing, and the first half hour doesn’t have any words, because it’s all Wookies.”

“It’s a cinematic masterpiece of late seventies weirdness.” Charlie continues from my other side. 

“George Lucas has also vowed to destroy every physical copy he can get his hands on, but thankfully someone put it on YouTube before he managed that.” Dean chuckles as we round the corner.

“This is where we’re having lunch?” I ask, looking around at what appears to be a gas station. Charlie laughs, leading us into the attached store. 

“This is why we call it Fancy Gas.”

The doors slide open onto what definitely isn’t a regular Gas n Sip. There’s rows of groceries spread out in the store, real groceries, like full sized boxes of cereal and fluffy-looking bread, and a deli counter on one wall complete with dudes in little white hats. There’s a mom and a kid looking over colorful produce, and Dean has already started drifting towards a case full of pastries. 

“Hey, c’mon, sandwich first.” Charlie chases after Dean, hooking her arm around his to steer him to the deli counter.

“I just wanna get a chocolate croissant for Cas!” He whines, despite being six feet tall.

“Sure, sure.” Charlie rolls her eyes at me as we stand in front of the deli counter. “He’d also want you to eat real food before you had chocolate.”

“Ok _mom_.” Dean pouts. 

“Hey folks, what’ll it be?” One of the deli guys comes up to the counter with a notepad, pulling a pencil out from behind his ear. We all order and troop over to the cash register at the end of the counter, Dean waving me away when I pull out my wallet.

“Hey, it’s your first day, lemme get your sandwich.” He pulls a slip of paper out of his wallet and grins at me, waving it around. “I’ve got a coupon anyway.”

“You sure? We just met, Dean.” I mumble, fidgeting with my wallet. His grin softens and he knocks his elbow into mine, nodding. 

“Well, consider this your welcome to the family.” 

I chew on my lip for another moment before conceding with a nod, tucking my wallet back into my coat pocket. Dean’s grin returns and he steps up to the counter, handing the cashier the slips with our orders and the coupon. 

“Alright, soup and sandwich, with the coupon that’ll be $4.20.” He looks up at Dean, whose lips are twitching. Charlie snickers next to me, sipping her Dr. Pepper. “Want the sandwich toasted?”

Dean’s eyes flicker over to me and Charlie before he nods, pursing his lips and handing over a five.

“Blaze it.” He declares. 

I bark out a shocked laugh, Charlie nearly snorts soda from her nose, and one of the other deli guys starts cackling. The cashier takes a deep, heavy sigh and hands Dean his change without a word, turning to make our food. 

“I can’t take you anywhere!” Charlie laughs, swatting Dean in the arm. He grins, shrugging.

“I couldn’t pass it up, c’mon, it was a perfect opportunity.”

When we get back to the store, I start to head to the break room, but Dean waves at me as he and Charlie go through a door in receiving I hadn’t noticed.

“C’mon, this is where the cool kids eat lunch.”

I shrug and follow him. So far everything Charlie and Dean have shown me today has in fact been pretty cool.

We go up a flight of stairs, down a hallway, and up another flight of stairs. There’s no windows, so I’m not really sure where we are as I follow Dean and Charlie and try not to spill my soup. We get to the end of another hallway, and Charlie pulls out her keys, unlocking a door and shoving it open with her shoulder.

“It sticks in cold weather.” Dean explains, gesturing with his chin. I follow Charlie into the bright afternoon light. The door has spit us out on the roof of the building, and I follow Charlie around a couple of vent pipes to an area tucked in next to the taller building next door. There’s a picnic table set up with an umbrella folded up next to it, and a dark haired man is already at the table, a tupperware and thermos in front of him. He looks up as we approach, squinting, then smiling as he recognizes Charlie. 

“Hey!” She says as she sits, flapping her hand at me to sit next to her. I settle in as Dean sits on the other side of the table next to the dark haired man, leaning over to give him a kiss on the cheek. 

Oh. Dean didn’t strike me as the queer type. 

“Hello Dean.” He says in a gravelly voice, then turns to look at me, reaching out a hand. “Hello. You must be one of the new hires. I’m Castiel, I work in the accounting office.”

“Y/N.” I offer up, shaking his hand. “Yeah, it’s my first day.” 

Castiel gives me a nod before pulling the lid off his tupperware. 

“Welcome to Singer’s. It’s a very welcoming workplace.” He tips his head at my jacket, and I look down, hoping I haven't already gotten schmutz on it. 

“Oh. Right.” 

I’d been in such a hurry to be on time this morning I hadn’t realized there was still a pin on the lapel of my jacket that read ‘BI BI BI’ in the bi flag colors. Heat floods my cheeks again. I hadn’t meant to be so obvious about my queer identity on my first day.

“Hey, no sweat, it’s not even a thing at Singer’s.” Dean says, swiping his hand through the air. “Half the damn crew is one flavor of queer or another. This one is a useless lesbian,” He points at Charlie, who nods with a mouth full of sandwich “And I’m a bi disaster who just happens to be dating the most camouflaged gay man in existence.” 

Castiel scowls for a moment, then shrugs.

“I suppose I’m not as loud about my sexuality as some stereotypes would paint me out to be.”

Charlie bumps her shoulder into mine again, and I manage a tight smile.

“If you don’t want to be out at work, that’s cool too.” She tips her head at me, face serious. “We won’t say a word if you don’t want us to.”

Across the table, Dean and Castiel nod somberly.

“Thanks.” I murmur, looking down at my container of soup. It doesn’t look too appetizing anymore. “I, uh. I actually moved here because of a bad breakup. A bad queer breakup. It was messy and awful and just spread through my friend group like wildfire, so I decided I needed a new start.”

“Can I hug you?” Charlie blurts, making me jump despite the fact that she’s sitting right next to me. “I’m just really protective of my queer friends and I feel like we’ve been vibing all day and that sucks major donkey balls.” 

Dean snorts, but I nod slowly. Charlie clambers out from under the table top and holds out her arms, wiggling her fingers in her fingerless gloves. My knee catches on the tabletop as I stand, but when Charlie wraps her arms around me I don’t care about my knee throbbing. 

“C’mon, get in here you two!” Charlie orders. There’s some grumbling from the table, but then a big warm body wraps around my back, and Cas tucks his face in between mine and Charlie’s as Dean sets his chin on my head. 

“Now this is the ‘welcome to the family’ you needed.” Dean chuckles, chest rumbling against my back. “You’ve officially been adopted by the Queer Disasters of Singer’s Books.”

My throat tightens, and I hide my face in Charlie’s shoulder. 

She just squeezes me tighter.

**Author's Note:**

> Dean's interaction at the deli counter is pulled from this screenshot of a tumblr post I found on Pinterest: https://tinyurl.com/sandwich420. I've got a pinterest board full of whacky shenanigans and interactions for the Singer's crew to get up to. Also that story Charlie tells the reader as they're going to lunch is something that actually happened to me at work one night. Retail is wild, y'all.


End file.
